


The Steps You Take

by Skippee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, I'm choosing to believe this happened, deke reveal, partial au?, set in 5x20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 19:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14625075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skippee/pseuds/Skippee
Summary: Missing scene in 5x20:  Daisy and Simmons have a much-needed conversation





	The Steps You Take

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the request, anon! I love Daisy and Jemma's friendship, and it's been so hard to see them at odds the last few weeks. This made me feel a little better!

Jemma wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and groaned (she hoped that had been only an internal noise, but now that she thought about it…).   _ We’re running in circles, _ she thought as she picked apart bits of tissue in hopes of finding enough uncontaminated material to start the extraction.  _ Who needs time loops when you work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? _

Long-buried ghosts kept surfacing.  At least Dr. Hall she could almost say she missed; his gravitonium, not so much.  Her second trip to space (take  _ that _ , NASA) had been just as unwanted as the first, and she certainly hadn't expected to leave Earth again so soon.  Fitz was drowning in himself again, and she still felt powerless. Now the Centipede injector was staring up at her from the table, next to a woman they had truly buried years ago.

The feeling was creeping up on her again; the suffocating blackness that came with being sucked through a monolith threatened with cold fingers around her wrists and pulled until the room swam in front of her and her knees buckled.

She caught herself on the table and tried to take a few steadying breaths.   _ This is 2018. You're on Earth. This is just another day at S.H.I.E.L.D. _  When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at the ring on her hand poking through a blue glove. It must have snagged in her flailing about; she’d have to figure out a better way to work with it on. 

It flashed in the light, and she smiled.  _ For better or for worse _ . Maybe they hadn’t used traditional vows, but she liked the sentiment.  Well, this could certainly qualify for “worse”. She kicked herself for wallowing again and tried to turn it around. Maybe worse, but they were together, and they were  _ unstoppable _ .  She pulled the gloves off still-shaking hands and reached for a fresh pair.  Maybe they were repeating history, but at least they’d know what they were up against this time.  Maybe Project Centipede was back and dragging painful memories along with it, but they’d handle it.  The serum was in her database of known artificial human enhancements. She had chemical equations and subject files and  _ facts _ .  Maybe they had gravitonium in the Lighthouse, but they’d contained it before.  Besides, now they knew that it would get them to space.

“Simmons!”

Daisy stood in the doorway, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.  “You're done?”

Jemma sighed. “No. Not yet.  I think I think I can get enough cells to start the DNA extraction, but I just can’t understand why she decomposed so quickly.” She pulled on the new gloves and gestured at the microscope.  She’d found only a few feebly glowing cells, nothing like the life that should have been bursting from something with this kind of regenerative capability. “Have a look if you want. If we’d waited even six months longer, I'm not sure there would be anything left to find.”

“I know.”

Jemma froze. “You know?”

Daisy nodded. “Cal and I did it. We didn't want Hydra or anyone else taking advantage of her abilities ever again. We figured it would take about 3 years for her to be completely safe.”

“Oh, that's  _ awful. _ ”

“Wow, okay, I guess I get to do this with everybody today,” Daisy grumbled. “I don't want to hear it! Especially from you! We. Are saving. Coulson!” She spun, ready to storm off.

“No, Daisy, wait!” Jemma reached for her arm and hung on tight when Daisy tried to shake her off. “I meant that must be awful for you to have to bring her back up again. I'm  - I'm sorry.”

Daisy relaxed a fraction of an inch but said nothing, so Jemma pressed on.  “Can we just… talk? For a minute? It’s been a while.”

“Fine, but only a minute.  I should really be going.” Daisy slid down the wall, wrapping her arms around her knees, and Jemma followed suit.  “It’s been a hell of a week, hasn’t it?” she said dryly.

“I think we’re all… struggling,” Jemma tried. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“Speaking of a lot to take in, when were you planning to tell me you have a  _ grandson _ ?!”

Jemma grimace.  “Well we weren’t exactly talking!”

“Yeah, and I’m still incredibly pissed at you by the way, but we’re best friends!” She looked indignant.  “I know we don’t really do the whole painting-our-nails and giggling-about-boys thing, but ‘I have a grandkid’ pretty much tops the list of things you have to share!”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry!  So I guess Deke told you?” 

She nodded.

“Well, I’m glad you two are getting along!”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘getting along’,” scoffed Daisy.  “It’s more like he keeps showing up wherever I go and talking at me.”

“Oh, he’s not so bad.”

“Look at that, he’s got grandma wrapped around his little finger already!”

Daisy smiled, and Jemma couldn’t help but return it.  It was a small step, but at least they were moving forward.  Jemma’s smiled slipped into a grin that could scarcely be described as anything but “devilish”.  “But you’ll never guess what he called us. In his time, anyway.” She paused for dramatic effect.  ‘Nana’ and ‘ _ Bobo _ ’!”

Neither was sure who had started it, but between the exhaustion and absolute absurdity of the entire situation, both collapsed into fits of giggles punctuated only by cries of “Bobo?!” and “Can you believe it!?”

“Okay, this time I really have to get going,” gasped Daisy, wiping her eyes.  “May’s going to kill me if I don’t get back up there to help prep the Zephyr.”  She got to her feet and offered a hand.

Jemma took it and grunted to her feet.  “She  _ has _ been looking particularly murderous lately.  Do you think it’s about Coulson?”

Daisy smirked. “Well, at least you’re not the last to know.  Pretty sure that honor belongs to the two of them.” Her smile faded quickly.   “We really need this cure to work.”

“I’m going to do everything I can,” Jemma promised.  “We can do this.”

“Yeah, we kind of specialize in the impossible, don’t we?” she mused, glancing at the clock on the wall.  “Okay, now I’m going. For real this time.” 

She was halfway down the hall when Jemma called after her, “You’ll be careful?”

Daisy paused and turned.  “Of course.”

Jemma watched until she turned a corner out of sight and, for the first time in weeks, felt hopeful.  Maybe things were a little broken right now, but this was a team. Since that first day on the run, they all might as well have said those same vows to each other.  For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do us part. They had faced horrible things every day since then and survived, and they would survive this too.  They would make things right within the team again. She’d adapt the serum. Daisy and May would find Coulson. They’d break the loop. They would save the world. 

They were agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., after all.


End file.
